Season 3, Episode 11 (Episode #47)
Timala Stewart is an interior designer and procurement specialist based in Florida. Before launching Decurated Interiors, she spent a decade in corporate furniture buying and merchandising — including roles at Ashley Furniture, one of the world's largest furniture companies, and a Virginia Beach upholstery firm where she first attended High Point Market as a buyer. She now offers two services to interior designers: hourly procurement support (handling sourcing, ordering, vendor communication, and logistics on behalf of the designer's firm) and procurement consulting (auditing existing processes, identifying profit leaks, and updating SOPs for designers who have a team).
Chapter Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
02:40 — Timala's background: furniture merchandising, buying, and how she got to High Point Market as a corporate buyer
06:02 — Moving to Ashley Furniture — the largest or second-largest furniture company in the world
07:18 — The great resignation and starting Decurated Interiors
08:16 — What designers miss at High Point Market — the buyer's perspective
11:14 — The supply chain secret: same products in different showrooms
13:28 — The light bulb moment: bringing procurement expertise to interior designers
15:09 — What Timala found working with designers as a VA: no standardised procurement process
17:00 — Real examples: disorganisation, underused software, and documentation chaos
19:04 — Software: can you work with anything?
21:19 — AI integration in design software — and the data privacy gap
23:44 — The money leaks nobody tracks: five-minute tasks that compound into thousands
27:24 — What changes when you hire a procurement specialist
27:42 — The two ways Timala works with clients: hourly support vs. consulting
32:05 — What to expect when Timala comes in: discomfort is short, smoother roads follow
36:10 — DIY procurement advice for solo designers who can't hire yet
37:25 — Procurement vs. project management — they're not the same thing
39:48 — Business is human-led and AI-informed
41:55 — Are designers taking advantage of their vendor relationships?
46:35 — Damage claims: respond fast or pay out of pocket
50:08 — The $2,000 freight audit: one room, one experienced designer, one leak
53:40 — How to map your revenue and cost buckets
54:33 — "This was an experienced designer"
55:00 — What percentage of designers really understand procurement?
56:22 — Who to hire locally: look for customer service DNA, not furniture knowledge
58:22 — The most expensive procurement mistakes designers make
58:40 — Mistake #1: Not creating purchase orders
60:11 — Mistake #2: Over-committing to inventory
61:59 — Mistake #3: Not accounting for freight
62:33 — Mistake #4: Conflating procurement and project management
62:51 — Mistake #5: Not tracking your time
66:00 — The breaking point: why designers finally ask for help
67:28 — How to reach Timala
Resources & Links:
Timala Stewart — Decurated Interiors: decuratedinteriors.com
Procurement inquiry form: decuratedinteriors.com/procurement
Instagram: @decuratedinteriors
Email: timala@decuratedinteriors.com / info@decuratedinteriors.com
